Visiting hours
by MediocrePlayWright
Summary: STEROLINE AU Caroline has a day off, lying at home doing nothing when a knock comes from her door. A young boy emerges when she opens it. Who is he? Why is he here? Who could his dad be...


**This is a story that is steroline centered, its au and has no vampire stuff.**

 **Stefan and Caroline have never met each other before now although they are neighbors.**

* * *

Caroline was reading a book snuggled up on her couch on a cold winter day. Luckily she got the day off and was sitting warm and fuzzy with her cup of tea under a soft blanket.

She had been sitting there for a good hour or so when she heard the doorbell to her apartment chime.

With a few seconds of afterthought she threw the blanket off and her feet touched the cold floor walking slowly to the door. She opened the door with curiosity and looked around, but just came up with more doors to her neighbours.

Then she heard a small "Hi"

Caroline looked down shocked and met a young boy's hopeful eyes "Hello!" he said gleefully again and waved his small hand.

The boy that was standing in front of her had brown messy curls upon his head, green eyes and probably the cutest smile she had ever seen on a kid before. She wasn't really good at guessing age, but maybe 6-7 years old?

Caroline smiled back at him politely but still confused "Hello there… Who might you just be?"

He pulled up his posture and stood tall. "My name is James Antonio Salvatore, ma'm." He did a little bow and then stretched his hand forward.

"My name is Caroline, a pleasure to meet you sir" She said and met his hand.

"So what can I help you with?" She continued, he was so adorable and there was also a familiarity with him, she might have seen him around here before?

He looked down fidgeting with his hands, suddenly a bit shy and then stared into her eyes questioningly."You're the lady with a dog right?"

"Yeah I guess" she chuckled "How did you know I had a dog" He seemed like an honest kid, smart and clever, but that's just her first impression of this tiny stranger.

"Sometimes when Dad and I walk home from school we see you out walking with a dog and we've seen you exiting at the entrance, so I knew you lived in our building, but I have never met you in the stairs so I gathered you were our downstairs neighbour."

Caroline's eyes went big of surprise of his smarts but more surprised of his forwardness.

"Aren't you a little detective, James. But how did you know which apartment number I lived in?" She asked him, but it didn't really work, because at that moment her little beagle puppy had popped her head up from the couch and was staring at them. And with that James was halfway into her apartment to the now very sleepless puppy.

He answered as soon as he reached the pup and smiled at her. " I knocked on every door until I recognized you" He said in an almost too calm tone "Oh, and you can call me Jamie if you want, my dad does" He continued nonchalantly while petting the dog softly.

"Does your dad know about your… Little adventure?"

"No..." He said cautiously as he sat on the couch to get closer to the small creature.

She walked up to him, now worried. "He must be terrified right now"

"He doesn't even know I'm gone, he's asleep"

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows, she looked at her clock that hung on the wall.

"Its like 12 o'clock, why is he asleep, and aren't you supposed to be in school or something?" She was kind of panicking by now, a strange boy in her apartment, who was also skipping on his education with a probably alcoholic dad laying passed out in the middle of the day. Maybe that was why he wasn't familiar to 'stranger danger'

"He works at the police station, I'm usually at school while he's at work but the snowstorm last night made the roads inaccessible so they canceled school for the day until they could get the road clear. That's also why he's home, the extra shift yesterday during the accident inducing storm got him got him worn out. His boss told him to go home" He still played with her dog quite happily as he mentioned it matter of factly.

Caroline just stood there mouth parted to say something but didn't know what to say. She felt like a jerk assuming everything was worser than it actually was.

Jamie startled her a little from her thoughts as he kept talking "I was bored and I didn't want to bother his sleep, because of the storm there was a lot going on yesterday. I decided to go for a walk in the hallway but that was boring too, then I remembered you had a dog so I looked around for a bit and I found her " He cradled the puppy in his arms and watched as it laid there comfortably.

She wanted to let out an 'aaww' at the picture but stopped herself. Caroline just wishes she could have stopped herself before saying the next sentence.

"What about your mom, where is she?" She cleared her throat and asked calmly.

Jamie took a breath still not looking at Caroline "She's busy with the angels" he was quiet then but after a while met her eye and murmured softly "So is it okay if I stay here a while? Dad won't wake up until about two when he usually goes to pick me up..."

Caroline stuttered a bit, afraid that she touched a sore subject about his mother "Ehm… Ye- ...yeah " She smiled as she looked down at her dog so pleased with her current status. "Yeah it's perfect actually, she hasn't been able to go outside because of the storm"

She walked to the couch he sat on and kneeled before it, she gently patted the dog's head as the boy observed Caroline's movements "So her name is Peggy" She explained with a warm smile. "And… " Her arm went under the couch to pull out a box from under it. "This..." she gestured to the box as she took the lid off "...Is her favorite toys"

The dog had jumped down from his lap and snatched a chew toy in form of a football from the box and waited beside the couch patiently for him to notice her.

Jamie laughed and went to the dog who jumped around playfully as he moved forward to take it.

* * *

Caroline watched as Peggy and James played in the livingroom from one of her barstools at her kitchen. They were so cute. Him running around and Peggy jumping up to lick his face as he crouched down to pick up a new toy.

She sat at her laptop and tried to look up in which apartment he lived in. She thought that if she maybe could find out the dads number somehow she could send him a message saying that he was fine and the he could pick him up anytime.

She didn't have any problems with Jamie being there, he was kind and she recognized his last name from the mailboxes at the entrance.

She had thought about her options: walk him home and risk him going out on another adventure, find her Facebook riddled with posts looking for a missing kid and the police sending out a search party. Or find the dad and tell him it was okay.

She could have just asked where he lived bluntly, but she wanted to find out a bit more about this "Cop Salvatore"

In the middle of typing a few keywords into her computer Carolines stomach made a loud growl. She looked up and realized it was way past lunch time and she hadn't eaten since breakfast. If she was hungry he might be starving.

She jumped of the chair (if you could call it that- it was more like a tower of doom) and went into the living space. The couch being the main separator between the kitchen and the living room.

Jamie was sitting with his back against a bookcase (supporting him from the semi aggressively loving dog) and throwing a squeaky toy down the short hallway leading to her bedroom and bathroom. After a few seconds you could hear small paws rattling against the floor and then never ending squeeks getting louder as she raced back "Hey, having fun?" she said as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah! Much better than re-reading all my comic book collection all over again! Don't get me wrong, I love reading them, but this….This is a DOG!" He rambled fast and with a huge grin on his face.

She smiled at the happiness escaping him. "So... How about some food for the both of you. You have to be hungry after all that playing, right?"

"I'm absolutely famished!" He said with big movements as he leaned back onto the carpet dramatically with the back of his hand resting on his forehead.

She laughed at his gestures "Okay then, we both agree on the necessity of food this moment. How do you feel about mac n' cheese?"

"Where!" He exclaimed and sat up fast.

"Well… All i have is ingredients, but I was thinking that you might want to help me with it?"

He smiled big and stood up quickly "Can she help?" He said and pointed to the dog wiggling her tail now when James stood up again.

"Well… She can be a silent supporter." Caroline chuckled as she stood up and started going to the kitchen.

He followed her and the dog was trailing behind him.

* * *

A lot of clanking of pans, cheesy accidents and laughter later and they were sitting on the couch with the tv sounding in the background,meanwhile Peggy was at the corner of the room eating by herself.

In the middle of eating in silence the boy looked up with wide eyes "This is so gooooood!"

"Oh yeah, you think so? You know I wasn't the only who was cooking" She bumped into his shoulder playfully.

They had talked a lot in the kitchen: favorite foods, how he looked at school- he loved it by the way- and even a bit of gossip surrounding the first graders. But she also felt interrogated by him: where she grew up, what were her favorite place in the world, if she was single… That one threw her off, she teased him and asked if the gentleman wasn't a little bit too young to be searching for 'the one', his response was 'yuck, cooties'

"Okay, if you could choose anything in all of the worlds spectrum, what is your favorite thing?" She said keeping the conversation going after the food comment.

"Definitely marine biology" He said without a doubt while scraping all the edges of his bowl carefully to get all cheese there was to offer.

"WHAT!" She said stunned "Who are you, what 7 year old kid chooses that, it's really complex, shouldn't someone your age,i don't know… watch Dora the Explorer and play pokémon… "

"That's fairly insulting ma'am, i'm 76 years old!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, how terrible of me of assuming such things" She apologized teasingly.

"It's fine many mortals make that mistake" he claimed.

"Oh okay, so you're immortal too?" she exclaimed surprised.

"Yep, but that's a secret…" He told her as he leaned closer like if someone could hear him.

"I can't promise anything" She chuckled.

He just grinned licking the spoon

Who is he? He's smart, but silly and exude so much confidence-like he has been here before and like he had known her forever. Who is his parents….

* * *

An hour later Caroline was cleaning up her mess of a kitchen contemplating the fact that this was the furthest from how she thought the day was going to go.

She looked back to the couch, James was laying there sleeping with a blanket on and Peggy perched at his side- also asleep.

That little kid (excuse me again;76 years old man) had waltzed into her apartment and she just went with it. All might be lies, and he is really someone totally different, but he seems so genuine so she doesn't really want to believe it.

A knock startled Caroline from her revere. She looked at the couch and the little boy was still sound asleep. Approaching the door (guessing it was the almighty father) she suddenly got nervous, should she be furious? Should she teach him a lesson about fatherhood, although she got no kids herself so how can she really judge? Or should she be delicate with the probably panicked father? Well when she opened the door she did neither.

In front of her stood a very breathtaking man, both figuratively and literally. He was really gorgeous and also hyperventilating. Definitely him.

…

Stefans POV

…

He had run around the building and was freaking out, why would he leave? His son was smart, he wouldn't put himself into danger, as long as he didn't leave the building it was all going to be fine. At least the was what he told himself.

He got to the 28th door he knocked on and waited impatiently. The door opened and his heavy breathing slowly calmed. He had totally forgot what he was doing. Their stares going on forever it seemed.

He cleared his throat, going back to the issue in hand.

"I..I am so sorry to bother you, but i'm looking for..." he said rapidly but was interrupted.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" The blonde one said bluntly with a smile and he gazed at her stunned, taking in her golden halo and trying to figure out an answer.

The woman turned around nodding at him to follow along. He did and when he stopped behind her she continued, breaking the silence.

"... He does." She gestured to her couch with a smirk on her face.

"Huh" Stefan huffed followed by a smile, he had been here the whole time sleeping.

"This dapper young man came knocking at my door looking for the _dog_ lady and as soon as his eyes saw hers, I didn't have heart to say no. Since then he has barely let her have a moment by herself. Not that she does mind, she loves the attention"

He was confused at first, not understanding what she talked about but then she had gripped onto his wrist gently and pulled him closer to the couch. Where he could clearly see the dog snuggled up along Jamie. He turned to her after adoring the sight for a few seconds longer.

By instinct he took her by her hand and looked into her clear blue eyes.

"Thank you so so much for taking care of him, he is usually in school and he said that he was preoccupied with homework and that didn't mind me resting. He doesn't do this often so I completely freaked out when I woke up and he was gone" Stefan then realized that he was holding her hands close to his chest and blushed while subtly letting them go.

Not subtle enough apparently as he could see a tinge of red covering her cheeks. God she was beautiful.

…

Carolines POV

...

She cleared her throat softly and whispered sympathetically "I am sorry to hear about his mother..."

"Hmpf, she….she made her own choices" He whispered.

"What?" She glared at him.

He saw her confusion and started to motion her towards the kitchen area, away from his sleeping son.

"Well she cheated on me with some asshole brit a few years ago, and left us. She said she couldn't handle the pressure of motherhood" He said a bit frustrated.

"So she isn't D-E-A-D?" She spelled it out because she didn't really know if James was asleep or not, but it probably didn't matter, he's smart enough to spell out a four letter word.

"No..." He said confusion laced in his voice. "What did he tell you?"

"Well, not much just something about her being 'busy with the angels', I didn't really dig into the subject."'

He chuckled a bit "Okey, I see what happened. His mother, Hayley, moved with that douche artist closer to his main gallery in Los angeles. 'Angels' is like his code so he can blame her for being gone on something, at the same time as calling it something else makes it not seem that far away to him"

"Oh, I'm sorry, wow you probably feel really violated right now, I'm a stranger to you,you shouldn't have to deal with so personal questions…" She felt like an idiot again, god, why can't she keep her mouth shut.

"It's okay, you took care of my son for hours, I'm grateful for that, obviously you did a great job, he seems pretty content being here."

"Yeah, it was a bit weird he seemed so comfortable here" She smiled looking towards the couch "You said that he used the code to have her not feel so far away, how long has it been since he saw her?

"Not since she left when he was three, but I guess it's not his fault that he is missing his mother" He looked down with his hands on his waist, looking like he carried all the guilt in the world on his shoulders.

"You know it's not your fault because of his mother's decision. You shouldn't carry around her mess. What I can see, is that neither you or him need anyone else except each other" Caroline said sincerely with her hand on his shoulder as giving him support of some sort.

"It's funny coming from the person who just had to rescue my son from running away from home" He wasn't really smiling, but she could see the corner of his mouth turn up discreetly.

"I wouldn't use the word 'running away' I like to believe he was more curious. Plus he is a smart kid, he wouldn't leave you in such hurry." Oh shit.. that sounded ..Really flirty. _Who is she right now?_

She looked at him and she could see him gazing at her, just like when they met at the door, she isn't offended or anything, she shamelessly did the exact thing to him.

…

Stefans POV

...

"Um so ..." She breathed out "What's the deal with Jamie and marine animals?"

Jamie, no one calls him that except him, and somehow his heart couldn't keep from fluttering as her voice graced the name.

"Oh that" He laughed " A few months back we watched a documentary about that whales used to have legs and can't stop mentioning his great discovery to everyone, since then he has been obsessed in everything the lives in water. He wants to discover all of oceans secretes when he grows up. But who knows, next year his hobby might be archeology or rocket science" He said while he couldn't hide his pride in his voice.

Suddenly a head popped up from the couch and a few seconds later a little beagle head was also beside him.

"I told you, this is not a HOBBY, it's my life!" He said and then his eyes bugged when he realised his dad was in front of him.

"Hey buddy, slept well?" His voice wasn't really mad, just firm.

James slid down the couch and his words became muffled by all of the pillows

"Yeah, i'm weally sowwwy"

"Since you're okay, I'm not mad, but you know big guy, a note would have been good"

"Yes dad" His eye line had slowly moved to the edge if the back of the couch

"We should probably leave Ms..." He turned to her and realised that didn't know her name.

"Forbes" She answered for him.

"...Ms Forbes, so she can go on with her day."

Jamie stepped down from the couch and went to grab onto his father's hand.

"Thank you for today miss." He said innocently

"You're welcome James, it was nice to meet you"

On the way to the door after their 'goodbyes' Stefan turned his head over his shoulder and mouthed 'Thank you' to her, and then she nodded to him and the blonde closed the door to apartment 202.


End file.
